The electrodeposition of metal layers from electrolytic baths has found various industrial applications. In addition to the metal or the metals to be deposited the electrolytic bath generally contains further components, which are required for performing the deposition method and for improving the quality of the deposited metal layer. These substances are organic compounds. Examples of such compounds are grain-refining agents, wetting agents, brighteners, complexing agents and inhibitors. In general, these components are more or less rapidly consumed, destroyed or removed from the bath by entrainment when the deposition method is carried out. Thus, the concentration of the components decreases more or less rapidly in the course of time. In order to enable an ideal execution of the deposition method over a longer period, it is necessary to monitor the concentration of one or more components of the electrolytic bath and to replace the consumed or destroyed amount of the component as required by adding fresh component to the electrolytic bath.
The monitoring of the concentration of the component(s) of an electrolytic bath requires the determination of the concentration of the component(s) in the electrolytic bath in regular time intervals. By now this has often been done in such a way that single samples are manually taken from the electrolytic bath, and these samples are subjected to a chemical and/or physical analysis optionally after concentrating and purifying the sample. Thereby the individual analysis steps of separating the additives, purifying and determining the concentrations are carried out separately. In addition to an increased amount of time required for this purpose and the resulting additional costs the result is available for an evaluation only after a significant time delay. The aim of ensuring an increased process security and enabling an immediate intervention in case of a change of the concentrations or concentration ratios or an increase in the concentration of the decomposition products of the additives in the electrolyte, can only be achieved to a very limited extent if it can be achieved at all. At the manufacturing site and, thus, at the site of sampling there is often no possibility to promptly perform the respective bath analysis. Hence, with respect to the execution of the analysis, which is of significant importance for the process controlling the quality of his products, the operator of the production site regularly has to rely on the assistance and the time schedule of a third party in case he does not intend to invest in appropriate analysis equipment and qualified personnel.